palmer worm

noun

1. the hairy black and white caterpillar of the goldtail moth

Word History and Origins

Origin of palmer worm¹

C16: originally applied to various destructive caterpillars of migratory habits

Example Sentences

The birds whistle, but they die too; the rose blooms, but it is eaten in the heart by the palmer worm; the sun shines, but there is a shade at his back.

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I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them....

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The first spraying, immediately before the bloom, with arsenate of lead is for the curculio, what is called the Palmer worm, for canker worm—if you have any of them—the tent caterpillar, the leaf roller and various other insects that injure the fruit and the foliage.

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What the palmer worm had left, the locust had eaten; what the locust had left, the cankerworm had eaten; and what the cankerworm had left, the caterpillar had eaten. 

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